Jack and Jill went to a party. It wasn’t an ordinary party though. Jack had promised Jill that it was an inthemix ‘special night’ with one of Australia’s top DJs mashing the wax off his vinyl and providing Sydney with a taste of a thumping national tour. A boy named Tiga was to be there too, with all his glamour and pearls to show off…

Jack’s ears hurt as he realised the reason everybody was going on and on and on about Home’s sound system. Every corner, every crevice there was sound, and plenty of it. He complained to Jill, but she was busy observing the strange creatures that lurked and sweated on the dance floor. Jill asked Jack: who were the people who came to ‘dance’ and who were those who came to ‘pretend dance?’ People who love music close their eyes and move with their soul. Jack replied. Those who see if anyone is looking at them, are the ones who pretend, he added.

She gave a rye smile and together they skipped to the heart of the floor where Ajax (recently voted in at #5 on the 2005 Technics inthemix50) had the people jazzing along to his music. Well, it was more than jazzing (more like pumping) and if anyone needed to know how to dance, Ajax himself was providing colorful arrays of free expression, immersing himself vigorously into his set. There was top moments. Jack was somewhat surprised at the sounds/noises that Ajax was able to create, and there were many a moment when he brought Home to a euphorically hazy halt whilst waiting before unleashing a barrage of dirty-funked bass lines and booms….Class.

It was the perfect lead up to the eclectic caricature named Tiga. Jack wasn’t too familiar with track names and whatnot so a lot of the music was new and interesting. Of course, it’s not difficult to know what one likes and dislikes and the big room, wall shaking sounds proved the order of the night. As they danced the night away together Jill and Jack floated along the various other spaces at Sydney’s largest house. The techno goodness of the Silver Room had them conquered for a while (Glitch and High Jinks providing the ambiance) and upstairs the boys and girls of Bang Gang and Electric Disco were playing crunchy, funky-fun electro.

Back to Tiga. The room had remained filled. Jack scratched his head. The music was great, Jill was entertained, lots of people around, but why he they stopped dancing? Somewhere along the line, Jack had fallen away from the emotion. It felt like he could predict the beats they were stomping to, sort of like traveling the same route over and over. The tracks spun were fresh and banging. Big, beautiful, booming tracks, but without the variance.

They were content with what they heard; it was great without being fantastic. Ajax was tops, original, energetic and vibrant. Tiga kept the floor filled, was entertaining and enjoyed. Jack and Jill clapped as Mark Murphy comfortably took over the controls of the shuttle and took them to a land beyond the dawn where hazy eyed beings staggered out to planet Sunday.